In the Fray While Sleeping
by Paopu Pop
Summary: teaser for upcoming fic Sora and Riku are now in college years following the events of Kingdom Hearts. But Sora keeps dreaming of new adventures... so why does it seem so real? Sequel to KH2: NOT A SCHOOL FIC. SoraxRiku


**A/N: This is the teaser to my future fanfic. (It has no title really; I have to think of something stunningly creative while staying away from anything really cliché…)**

**While this may look like a school fic, it's really not supposed to be. This story is actually post-KH (as in the games). And the characters have just merely moved on to college while these events happen.**

**There are very minor spoilers in this (and what I consider spoilers may be different than you—I don't like ANYTHING to be given away, whether or not it is easily seen beforehand).**

**However, don't expect me to update after this (on anything) for some time. I have this bad feeling brewing in my stomach that I'm not going to get very much free time in April (I have so much work to do and so many tests—oh god, I can't believe it's merely a **_**month **_**before my finals! SHIT!)**

**Okay, I'm done now. To the … teaser? ^^**

**THIS STORY IS RIKUSORA DUHHHH

* * *

In the Fray While Sleeping**

Riku attempted to massage his own shoulder with his hand beneath the strap of his messenger bag. He groaned in pain as fingers dug into the tender muscles through a veil of skin. _'Who knew how heavy a psychology book could be?' _he mentally complained, rolling his eyes in tandem with his thought.

He was just relieved to be out of lectures. He couldn't stand lecture halls. It was so impersonal and could hardly retain information just by having it explained to him. He needed something _hands on_.

As he walked in front of his door, he stared at the silver plate screwed onto the door. 520. It never hurt to double-check sometimes; more than once he had walked into the wrong room (and had rather startled the girls inside—yes, all three occasions it'd been the same damn room).

Not unusual for a Wednesday, Sora was seated on his bed. Sora only had a night class on Wednesdays, so he hung around the room until Riku returned. But what was a bit unusual that there was no buttery scent. Sora typically ate popcorn as a snack (there were boxes stashed under his bed of the stuff) and he'd be munching away on the yellow kernels while watching movies on his laptop. The smell would be so strong that anyone could smell it down the hall.

But today there was no snacking. Papers and a book were laid around Sora as if he was flower with half of his white petals opened. Curious, Riku inquired, "What class are _you _cramming for?"

"A and P," he replied with a lack of interest in the older boy's arrival, eyes steadily reading over pages. Riku took no offense in his rather bored greeting; anatomy and physiology had a reputation for being a bitch of a class. Sora spoke again, "I have a test next week."

"And… you're studying _now_?" Was it really that hard?

"Practical. I still don't know half of this stuff."

"Practical?..." Riku pushed for a further explanation.

"Yeah." Sora's head finally popped up to look at Riku directly. "It's like a test… but different. You revolve around the room every minute or so and identify something or answer questions."

"So it's a walking test?"

"With models that you have to identify things on, yeah."

"How long have you been studying?"

"All day, since you left."

Riku frowned. Sora hardly ever studied so diligently. He was usually cramming the day before, no matter his efforts to avoid such a day.

Maybe anatomy and physiology really was that much of a bitch.

Riku walked closer to look down at Sora's work. All of the papers had shapes drawn into forms; the muscles were hastily scrawled onto notebook paper. "Why don't you take a break?"

Sora shook his head. "I will, when I finish looking at this section." And azure eyes were pasted to the ivory petals again.

With a shrug of his shoulders, Riku set his bag by his own bed, which was perpendicular to Sora's own, and swiped the acoustic guitar leaning against the wall in one sweep. He took the strap and draped it around his neck, and settled the musical contraption in his lap. Only taking a moment to contemplate what to play, he stretched his left fingers to set notes and plucked with the fingers on his right hand. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the twist of brunette hair as he strummed the tune of a romantic Spanish song.

"You're getting good," Sora said in awe. "I wish I could play guitar like that."

"Takes effort," was Riku's curt reply. The few notes during that frame of time ever-so slightly suffered.

Sora didn't move a muscle as Riku played (and finished) his song. In fact, the brunette didn't move even when Riku _had _finished. What was he staring at? But before Riku had a chance to ask, the other gave him with his million-dollar, toothy grin.

"Who would've thought, after all we've been through, we're typically college students now? Here I am cramming for a test, and you're playing your guitar." Sora's grin pulled back a little. "It's weird to think that we once wielded weapons and saved worlds."

Riku wore a face of dissatisfaction. "That was years ago, Sora. It's not that weird now."

"I don't know." Suddenly, Sora's demeanor changed. His eyebrows furrowed; he bit his lower lip. He looked… sad? "I mean, I've… I've been dreaming lately."

"Of what?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but palpably dismissed it with a twitch of his head. "It's… no big deal. Just… I don't know. I guess I want to be a hero again, I guess."

The room was dead silent, save for the permeating bass from the room beside.

"I'm going to kill our neighbors one day," Riku finally spoke.

Sora nodded in agreement, and returned to his studying as Riku continued to practice guitar.

_A curtain drawn before your eyes_

_Will bring the black on_

_Sunlight shines down here_

_I'll pretend it's as real as you_

A Keyblade materialized in the wielder's hand as he steadied himself for battle. Beads of sweat began to break and spill down the brunette's face; the sun was high and beating down on the heroes. The two younger boys by his side repeated the same gesture.

The flash of red, green and black whirred towards a miniature of army of creatures: they weren't Heartless or Nobodies, but some other type. It was hard to say what, though. They stuck out in the grass like spots of gray mushrooms. Their tentacles whipped out, trying to knock down the trio fighting them. As Keyblades made impact with their pudgy bodies, they burst into dust clouds.

"There are too many Nightmares!" one of the blondes (clad in black armor) cried. "The spore cloud is getting much too huge to see!"

The brunette in red armor (who was definitely Sora) drew his hand to his face and coughed. "This stuff tastes horrible too!"

"Fall back towards the left," the other blonde said. "We'll circle to the side so that we don't blind ourselves."

The other two agreed and followed the blonde as he sashayed backwards. "But Ven, won't this just spread it over a further range?" Sora asked.

The blonde who had made the suggestion (Ven) continued to back. "Hmm… that might be a problem. I don't know if the haze we just created will disappear by then…"

"Should we retreat?" the twin of Ven spoke. "We seem outnumbered."

"Sora? You're in charge, you make the decision."

Sora scratched under his headpiece with his free hand. "Maybe. I think we need a way to get rid of them at once at a further range. These Nightmares explode a lot more than the others."

Listening to their leader, the blondes nodded and followed Sora as they fled from the battle to re-evaluate their strategy.

"Maybe if we use a magic spell—Roxas, how much magic can—"

Riku's eyes snapped open. He had returned to his room, lying in his bed. No big deal, it had just been a dream.

But it had been so… _real._

He felt like he'd watch the entire thing happen from an invisibly drawn sideline—Sora was the captain of a three man army (which consisted of himself, Roxas, and a boy named Ven who looked Roxas' twin brother). And he could feel the whisper of the wind and the merciless sun beating down on his skin. Everything about his dream was so vivid it had been like he'd gone on a short vacation and returned.

But nothing was different. Riku's head lay close to Sora's in the midst of night. In fact, his ear was close enough so that he could hear Sora's ragged panting—

Wait, _what?_

Quietly as to not disturb Sora from his slumber, Riku propped himself on an elbow. The brunette was lying there, breathing and perspiring like he'd just run a marathon, but he just lay there. His face was contorted into a look of thoughtfulness. Was this normal? Should Riku wake him up?

But before Riku could get the opportunity, Sora rose like a gunshot. A quiet "Shit!" was hissed through his teeth in frustration.

Riku stared blankly, not sure what to think. The brunette sat up for a few seconds, cradling his head in the palms of his hands. He apparently didn't know Riku was watching him.

Sora laid his head back into the pillows, never noticing that Riku was observing him. The silver-headed boy watched as Sora's breathing steadied into a light slumber, and fell back into its quick pace.

Riku would have to talk to Sora about this later. Because something rattling in his gut told him that somehow, something was going on somewhere. He just wasn't sure what, where and how.

**A/N: ARRRGGGHHHH I couldn't figure out how to end it. Sorry it's so poorly ended. =I**

**My writing is a bit rusty. Hahaha. **

**I know, I know. VEN WTF?! But to be honest, I hope that **_**Birth by Sleep **_**comes out before I would progress that far into the fanfic. Then I can try to stay accurate as far as story and characterization goes, anyway. So… yes. And remember that this is totally a sequel fic to the games, so they're supposed to run in line with the story. (So that adds the extra, what the hell is Roxas doing there factor?!)**

**I don't really want to say much here since this isn't official or anything. What do you guys think? Does it sound good? If you want to see this story for real, leave me a review. C=**


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